Please do not letter up

Still thinking about Chinese medicine.  You will be sorry to hear that my headache came back this afternoon right on schedule with muscle spasms in my neck and upper shoulder.  So much for 'suction cup!' therapy.  I suppose it isn't supposed to help in just one treatment, but flexeril helps me sleep and doesn't leave bruises. 


All this talk about Chinese medicine got me thinking about my last experience with Chinese medicine.  I was actually in Beijing.  It was the year 2001 and right after an American military plane had made an emergency landing in China and had been held 'hostage' for 10 days or so.  Probably not the best time to visit China considering my past profession and the timing of it all, but we went anyway.  Since we didn't know any thing at all about how to get around in China, we signed up for a package deal that included an English speaking tour guide and chartered bus to take us to see the major attractions.  This was the old days back before you could find anything you ever wanted to know on the internet--it was still being used mostly for email, news, and porn back then.

So our group tour promised to take us to the Great Wall, Tiennamen Square, the Forbidden City and some other major attractions.  But oh, the capitalist heart is alive and well in communist China, don't let them fool you!  On the way to these attractions we had numerous stops at places to 'shop', a pearl place, a jade place and of all things, a hospital!  At the hospital they bragged that they were the only hospital in China to do heart transplant surgery.  They did a whole talk about ancient Chinese medicine and then they wanted to talk to each person about their ailments (tired?  achy?  high blood pressure?) and try to sell them Chinese herbal medicine!!!!  As part of the tourist trade!  Wow!  And that whole thing about open heart surgery?  I wouldn't have taken my dog to be treated at this hospital!  I'm sure things have changed a lot since then.  I know things got really cleaned up for the Olympics.  Even then they were working on preparing for the bid for the Olympics. 

We only stayed in Beijing for a long weekend.  Certainly not enough time or area to say I've "been" to China.  We did have some amazingly delicious Peking Duck (Beijing used to be Peking), which I found surprising because I'm not a big fan of duck.  All of the food we ate was delicious, although I admit I passed on some of the more 'exotic' foods.  The great wall was, well, great.   We saw the requisite Chinese Circus.  We found our own way to the 'flea market' (read 'black market') street to do some shopping on our own.  And of course, there was a Hard Rock Cafe....the global economy wasn't even a catch phrase back then, but it was certainly getting a good start in Beijing.

Mostly, though, I just remember laughing a lot at the ridiculousness of the whole trip.  Because my friend Lorenda and I, well, we were the funniest people we knew!  (Miss you Lorenda, hope to see you again someday soon!)